This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. Section 119 from an application for xe2x80x9cMethod for Allocating Link Resources between Mobile Switching Center and Base Stationxe2x80x9d filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on Mar. 15, 1999 and there duly assigned Ser. No. 99-8560.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method for allocating link resources between a mobile switching center and a base station, and in particular, to a method for allocating a link resource designated by a base station upon a handoff failure, to perform an inter-system handoff.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a conventional procedure for allocating a link resource between a mobile switching center (MSC) and a base station (BS). As illustrated, a mobile switching center 11 sends a handoff request message to a base station 12 in step S11, and upon receipt of the handoff request message, the base station 12 sends a handoff response message to the mobile switching center 11, in step S12, to inform the acceptance of the handoff request.
The IS-634A base station 12 can designate a specific resource by sending the mobile switching center 11 resource allocation information together with a configuration module service request message and a paging resource message including a circuit identification code. Therefore, except where the mobile switching center 11 cannot allocate a specific resource designated by the base station 12 for call termination and origination, the mobile switching center 11 can normally allocate the resources, thereby increasing the resource allocation efficiency of the base station 12, requires allocation of different resources according to the services.
However, this is applicable only to the call termination or origination but cannot be applied to the inter-system handoff which requires the allocation of new resources. Therefore, the base station 12, which has the authority to freely allocate the resources for the call termination/origination, is deprived of that authority. Thus, the mobile switching center 11 should implement the resource allocation function.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a method for enabling a base station to allocate link resources used between a mobile switching center and the base station not only during the call termination and origination but also during an inter-system handoff.
To achieve the above object, there is provided a method for allocating a link resource between a mobile switching center and a base station. The method comprises the steps of: (a) sending a handoff request message including information about a link resource requested by the mobile switching center, from the mobile switching center to the base station; (b) sending a handoff response message from the base station to the mobile switching center when the link resource requested by the mobile switching center is available for a service; (c) sending a handoff fail message including information about a new link resource requested by the base station, from the base station to the mobile switching center, when the link resource requested by the mobile switching center is unavailable for the service; (d) sending a resource allocation request message from the mobile switching center to the base station when the link resource requested by the base station is available; (e) sending a resource allocation request message including information about a new link resource requested by the mobile switching center from the mobile switching center to the base station, when the link resource requested by the base station is unavailable; (f) sending the handoff response message from the base station to the mobile switching center when the link resource included in the resource allocation request message from the mobile switching center is available; and (g) repeating steps (c) to (f), when the link resource included in the resource allocation request message from the mobile switching center is unavailable. The link resource information is included in the circuit identification code extension information.